The first minister-designate is expected to offer her condolences during a reception at Hillsborough Castle, the royal residence in County Down. The King and Queen Consort will later attend a service of reflection at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast. On the staunchly loyal Shankill Road, there is a carpet of flowers under a platinum mural of the Queen for the Jubilee. Image: Michelle O’Neill signing the book of condolence to the Queen Queen’s coffin to rest in Edinburgh – latest updates Stacey Graham, a local community worker, said: “I think the Queen epitomized for me what it meant to be British. “But he also knew how important it was to … extend that hand of friendship.” “We saw it when he met Martin McGuinness. We saw it when he went to the Republic of Ireland and spoke in Irish,” he added. It was during her historic visit to Ireland in 2011 that the Queen greeted her audience in Dublin with the words: “A uchatrain agus a chereade (chairman and friends)”. Lord Brookborough, Lord Lieutenant of County Fermanagh and a close friend of the late Queen, said: “This was a game-changer… and it was always something she wanted to do.” The new king has already gone further than his mother to heal Anglo-Irish relations, visiting Mullaghmore in County Sligo, where the IRA murdered his great uncle and paternal Lord Mountbatten. She shook hands with Martin McGuinness, former IRA commander, he has shaken hands with Gerry Adams, the world’s most recognizable Irish Republican. Read more: Who will be at Queen’s funeral – and who won’t Former soldier in line to see Queen’s coffin Queen was ‘the rock on which modern Britain was built’, PM says Olympic gold medalist Lady Mary Peters, who remembers the Queen’s “warmth, love, friendship and love for Northern Ireland”, has high hopes for King Charles. He said: “He writes many personal letters, which I have had the privilege of reading. “I think he will do differently, but he has had a long training from his mother and I think he will do very well.” And he added: “Long live the king.” Lord Brookeborough will never forget his last conversation with the Queen when he and his wife stayed at Windsor during Royal Ascot earlier this year. “When we were saying goodbye to her,” he recalls, “as we turned to go, she said, ‘I hope things are better in Northern Ireland soon.’
